California Adventure Re-Imagineering Complete

Some call it an escape, some call it crazy, but me; I just love it. That's right, friends, here comes another post on Disney, since we need a break from politics every now and then. Big things are happening out west as the Re-Imagineering of Disney California Adventure is complete.

For the longest time, Disney planned a second gate in Anaheim and after a couple ideas (notably WestCot) fell through, Disney built and opened California Adventure, on the site of the Disneyland Parking lot. Built as an homage to California, the park faced attendance issues and was thought of as weak in an Imagineering sense. When I visited California Adventure, they were embarking on the re-Imagineering, building World of Color, which opened one year after my visit.

This Friday, the largest projects in the Re-Imagineering open to the public, consisting of a new gateway to the park called Buena Vista Street, which models itself as 1920s Los Angeles, while borrowing some elements of Sunset Boulevard and Hollywood Boulevard at Disney's Hollywood Studios in Florida. Also to open is Cars Land, an ambitious project that re-creates Radiator Springs from the Disney/Pixar film Cars, including two minor rides; one bringing back the Disneyland Flying Saucers in the form of Luigi's Flying Tires and the other, Mater's Junkyard Jamboree, being Disney's take on the Scrambler. Most prominently, one of Disney's largest attraction projects to date in Radiator Springs Racers opens. It's a cross between Test Track and Cars, taking up at least half the 16 acre expansion. The on-ride POV below looks quite impressive.



Congrats to Disney in giving California Adventure its due. I guarantee this re-imagineering will be a success and while I plan to visit on my next trip to Southern California, I also hope to see more elements of DCA open in Florida; maybe a World of Color in the new Avatar Land of Animal Kingdom and a Cars Land in Disney's Hollywood Studios...